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Sask. Premier Wall criticizes Senate appointments

Prime Minister Stephen Harper's appointment of three defeated Conservative candidates to the Senate this week is a blow to the "momentum for Senate reform," Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall says.

The Senate appointments were made Wednesday as Harper unveiled the cabinet of his new majority government.

Wall, who has been a strong provincial ally of the Harper government, said the naming of former CFL commissioner Larry Smith and Josee Verner, both of Quebec, as well as Fabian Manning of Newfoundland to the Senate is problematic.

Verner had been a cabinet minister while Smith and Manning had earlier been appointed to the Senate by Harper and then resigned to run in the federal election.

"I think it takes away momentum for change at the provincial level and it will probably increase calls that we hear from time to time just saying, 'Do we really need this institution?'" Wall told reporters at the provincial legislature Wednesday.

The unelected Senate has long been an issue of special interest in Western Canada. The Reform party called for a Triple-E (elected, equal, effective) Senate, while the NDP has long called for abolishing the upper chamber.

Wall's Saskatchewan Party government has passed legislation that would allow the province to hold Senate elections. But as the federal government has not offered financial support for a vote, and because Harper began making Senate appointments, the province has never proceeded with an election.

Wall said he will wait to see how the Conservative government proceeds on the election issue.

Saskatchewan's Gerry Ritz, who has been reappointed as federal agriculture minister, said the incoming senators have pledged to step aside and run if provinces implement Senate elections.

Ritz, who was first elected as a Reform MP, defended the appointments of Manning, Smith and Verner.

"The prime minister has been clear we want good quality people. We want people that buy into our mandate. Certainly these three people do," he said.

The next pending vacancy of a Saskatchewan Senate seat would be in October 2012, when Liberal Senator Bob Peterson reaches the mandatory retirement age of 75.